"a dive he made on 6 September 1948 in a DH 108. Contrary to what is depicted in the film, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier was the rocket-powered Bell X-1 flown by Chuck Yeager of the United States Air Force in 1947. As Yeager, who was present at the US premiere, described in his first biography, ""The Sound Barrier"" was entertaining, but not that realistic – and any pilot who attempted to break the sound barrier in the manner portrayed in the film (forcing the centre stick forward to pull out of a dive) would have been"
"first production plane to break the sound barrier was an F-86 Canadair Sabre with the first 'supersonic' woman pilot, Jacqueline Cochran, at the controls. According to David Masters, the DFS 346 prototype captured in Germany by the Soviets, after being released from a B-29 at 32800 ft (10000 m), reached 683 mph (1100 km/h) late in 1945, which would have exceeded Mach 1 at that height. The pilot in these flights was the German Wolfgang Ziese. On August 21, 1961, a Douglas DC-8-43 (registration N9604Z) exceeded Mach 1 in a controlled dive during a test flight at Edwards Air Force"
"test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland Jr., the company eventually furnished the X-1 project with a design based upon four of Wyld's motors which would provide 1,500 pounds of thrust each. On October 14, 1947, American test pilot Chuck Yeager was the first in the world to break the sound barrier, piloting the X-1 with the four Reaction Motors, Inc. engines. Yeager was able to complete his flight safely due to the remarkably smooth flight provided by Wyld's system and despite the fact that he had broken several ribs while horse-riding the previous day. In early 1956, following an extensive bidding"
"Diana Barnato Walker Diana Barnato Walker MBE FRAeS (15 January 1918 – 28 April 2008) was an English aviator, the first British woman to break the sound barrier. Diana Barnato was born 15 January 1918. In 1936, at the age of 18, she was a debutante and was presented to King Edward VIII at Buckingham Palace. From an early age, she became interested in aircraft and at age 20 she decided to become a pilot. Her initial training was in Tiger Moths at the Brooklands Flying Club, the aerodrome being located within the famous motor racing circuit in Surrey. She"
"was awarded the MBE in 1965 for services to aviation, and was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. She died on 28 April 2008, aged 90. Diana Barnato Walker Diana Barnato Walker MBE FRAeS (15 January 1918 – 28 April 2008) was an English aviator, the first British woman to break the sound barrier. Diana Barnato was born 15 January 1918. In 1936, at the age of 18, she was a debutante and was presented to King Edward VIII at Buckingham Palace. From an early age, she became interested in aircraft and at age 20 she decided to become"
"1945) may have inadvertently become the first man to break the sound barrier on 1 March 1945. This occurred while he was piloting a Bachem Ba 349 ""Natter"" for the first manned vertical takeoff of a rocket in history. In 55 seconds, he traveled a total of 14 km (8.7 miles). The aircraft crashed and he perished violently in this endeavor. There are a number of unmanned vehicles that flew at supersonic speeds during this period, but they generally do not meet the definition. In 1933, Soviet designers working on ramjet concepts fired phosphorus-powered engines out of artillery guns to"
"Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green became the first person to break the sound barrier in a land vehicle in compliance with Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile rules. The vehicle, called the ThrustSSC (""Super Sonic Car""), captured the record 50 years and one day after Yeager's first supersonic flight. In October 2012 Felix Baumgartner, with a team of scientists and sponsor Red Bull, attempted the highest sky-dive on record. The project would see Baumgartner attempt to jump 120,000 ft (36,580 m) from a helium balloon and become the first parachutist to break the sound barrier. The launch was scheduled for October"
"The Sound Barrier The Sound Barrier (known in the United States, as Breaking Through the Sound Barrier and Breaking the Sound Barrier) is a 1952 British film directed by David Lean. It is a fictional story about attempts by aircraft designers and test pilots to break the sound barrier. It was David Lean's third and final film with his wife Ann Todd, but it was his first for Alexander Korda's London Films following the break-up of Cineguild. ""The Sound Barrier"" stars Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, and Nigel Patrick. ""The Sound Barrier"" was a box-office success on first release, but it"
"war, Yeager became a test pilot of many types of aircraft, including experimental rocket-powered aircraft. As the first human to officially break the sound barrier, on , 1947, he flew the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of (), for which he won both the Collier and Mackay trophies in 1948. He then went on to break several other speed and altitude records. Yeager later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany, and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he was promoted to brigadier general."
"to the attainable speed of aircraft, commonly referred to as the ""sound barrier."" In truth, the barrier to supersonic flight was merely a technological one, although it was a stubborn barrier to overcome. Amongst other factors, conventional aerofoils saw a dramatic increase in drag coefficient when the flow approached the speed of sound. Overcoming the larger drag proved difficult with contemporary designs, thus the perception of a sound barrier. However, aircraft design progressed sufficiently to produce the Bell X-1. Piloted by Chuck Yeager, the X-1 officially achieved supersonic speed in October 1947. Historically, two parallel paths of research have been"
"Allied forces and extensively studied. Dittmar had been officially recorded at 1,004.5 km/h (623.8 mph) in level flight on 2 October 1941 in the prototype Me 163A V4. He reached this speed at less than full throttle, as he was concerned by the transonic buffeting. Dittmar himself does not make a claim that he broke the sound barrier on that flight, and notes that the speed was recorded only on the AIS. He does, however, take credit for being the first pilot to ""knock on the sound barrier."" The Luftwaffe test pilot Lothar Sieber (April 7, 1922 – March 1,"
"was recorded for that flight.) As a result of the X-1's initial supersonic flight, the National Aeronautics Association voted its 1948 Collier Trophy to be shared by the three main participants in the program. Honored at the White House by President Harry S. Truman were Larry Bell for Bell Aircraft, Captain Yeager for piloting the flights, and John Stack for the NACA contributions. Jackie Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier on May 18, 1953, in a Canadair Sabre, with Yeager as her wingman. On August 21, 1961, a Douglas DC-8-43 (registration N9604Z) unofficially exceeded Mach 1"
"Bud Anderson Clarence Emil ""Bud"" Anderson (born January 13, 1922) is a retired officer in the United States Air Force and a triple ace of World War II. During the war he was the highest scoring flying ace in his P-51 Mustang squadron. This was the same squadron as well known test pilot (and first pilot to break the sound barrier) and ace Chuck Yeager, and they have remained lifelong close friends. Towards the end of Anderson's two combat tours in Europe in 1944 he was promoted to major at 22, a young age even for a highly effective officer"
"d'honneur. Constantin Rozanoff Constantin Wladimir Rozanoff, also known as Kostia Rozanoff, () ( – ) - was a French test pilot, Colonel of the French Air Force, and one of the pioneers of jet aviation. He was chief-pilot at Dassault Aviation. He flew 201 types of planes and helicopters, and accumulated 5,000 flying hours, including 3,865 combat hours, and breaking the sound barrier 104 times. Constantin Rozanoff was born to a Russian family in Warsaw. He and his mother emigrated to France in 1917 because of the Revolution, and in 1927 obtained French citizenship. Constantin Rozanoff entered the prestigious engineering"
"longest freefall after the 1960 jump of Joseph Kittinger for 4 minutes, 36 seconds. In October 2014, Alan Eustace, a senior vice president at Google, broke Baumgartner's record for highest sky-dive and also broke the sound barrier in the process. David Lean directed ""The Sound Barrier"", a fictionalized retelling of the de Havilland DH 108 test flights. Sound barrier The sound barrier or sonic barrier is the sudden increase in aerodynamic drag and other undesirable effects experienced by an aircraft or other object when it approaches the speed of sound. When aircraft first began to be able to reach close"
"lift; the prototype was 25 kn (46 km/h) short of its promised cruising speed and a new, slightly larger wingtip had to be developed to reduce drag. In addition, a recontoured wing leading edge was later developed to extend the chord 4% and reduce drag at high Mach numbers. On August 21, 1961, a Douglas DC-8 broke the sound barrier at Mach 1.012 (660 mph/1,062 km/h) while in a controlled dive through and maintained that speed for 16 seconds. The flight was to collect data on a new leading-edge design for the wing, and while doing so, the DC-8 became"
"Marina Popovich Marina Lavrentievna Popovich (née Vasiliyeva; July 20, 1931 – November 30, 2017) was a Soviet Air Force colonel, engineer, and decorated Soviet test pilot. In 1964, she became the third woman and the first Soviet woman to break the sound barrier. Known as ""Madame MiG"", for her work in the Soviet fighter, she set more than one hundred aviation world records on over 40 types of aircraft over her career. Marina Vasilieva was born in 1931 in the Velizhsky District of Smolensk Oblast, but evacuated with her family to Novosibirsk during World War II. She began learning to"
"the time, compressibility was the cause of the phenomenon known as the sound barrier. 1940s-era military subsonic aircraft, such as the Supermarine Spitfire, Bf 109, P-51 Mustang, Gloster Meteor, He 162, and P-80, have relatively thick, unswept wings, and are incapable of reaching Mach 1.0 in controlled flight. In 1947, Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 (also with an unswept wing, but a much thinner one), reaching Mach 1.06 and beyond, and the sound barrier was finally broken. Early transonic military aircraft, such as the Hawker Hunter and F-86 Sabre, were designed to fly satisfactorily even at speeds greater than"
"Constantin Rozanoff Constantin Wladimir Rozanoff, also known as Kostia Rozanoff, () ( – ) - was a French test pilot, Colonel of the French Air Force, and one of the pioneers of jet aviation. He was chief-pilot at Dassault Aviation. He flew 201 types of planes and helicopters, and accumulated 5,000 flying hours, including 3,865 combat hours, and breaking the sound barrier 104 times. Constantin Rozanoff was born to a Russian family in Warsaw. He and his mother emigrated to France in 1917 because of the Revolution, and in 1927 obtained French citizenship. Constantin Rozanoff entered the prestigious engineering school"
"1970s, both were later retired without being replaced by similar designs. The last flight of a Concorde in service was in 2003. Although Concorde and the Tu-144 were the first aircraft to carry commercial passengers at supersonic speeds, they were not the first or only commercial airliners to break the sound barrier. On 21 August 1961, a Douglas DC-8 broke the sound barrier at Mach 1.012 or 1,240 km/h (776.2 mph) while in a controlled dive through 41,088 feet (12,510 m). The purpose of the flight was to collect data on a new design of leading-edge for the wing. A"
"must maintain a cumulative 3.5 grade point average. Those who complete all academic requirements are awarded a Yeager medallion containing flecks of the same metal as the Bell X-1. Society of Yeager Scholars The Society of Yeager Scholars is the name of the highest academic scholarship offered at Marshall University, named in honor of Chuck Yeager, the first recorded pilot to break the sound barrier. The scholarship was established to elevate the quality of academics at Marshall University and to honor Yeager, a local native who did not have the opportunity to attend college (see ""The Right Stuff""). The Society"
"before Yeager did. This claim is disputed, and there are a number of other pilots and countries that claim the first supersonic flight. However, Mutke never claimed he was the first person to break the sound barrier, but instead argued that his flight was merely proof that the Me 262 was capable of reaching and exceeding Mach 1 and that therefore other German fighter pilots may have done so even before him. In a series of carefully controlled flight tests conducted in World War II by Messerschmitt, it was established that the Me 262 went out of control in a"
"in a controlled dive during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, as observed and reported by the flight crew; the crew were William Magruder (pilot), Paul Patten (co-pilot), Joseph Tomich (flight engineer), and Richard H. Edwards (flight test engineer). This was the first supersonic flight by a civilian airliner, and the only one other than those by Concorde or the Tu-144. As the science of high-speed flight became more widely understood, a number of changes led to the eventual understanding that the ""sound barrier"" is easily penetrated, with the right conditions. Among these changes were the introduction of"
"Jean Hixson Jean Hixson (1922-1984) was a teacher, a Women Airforce Service Pilot and part of the Mercury 13. She was also the second woman to break the sound barrier, in flight over Lake Erie. Jean Hixson was born in Hoopeston, Illinois. Hixson had always had a passion to excel at what she did. Hixson began taking flight lessons at age 16 and was able to get her pilot's license by the age of 18. After Hixson received her pilots license she began to train with the Women's Air force Service Pilots (WASP). During World War II Hixson flew B-25"
"investigation was conducted at high altitude in mountainous country and was particularly trying and hazardous. By 1969 he had risen through the ranks of Squadron Leader and Wing Commander, working in staff jobs in Kohat and Peshawar, after earlier being based at Mauripur, (Karachi). In 1971, Air Commodore Callaghan was the PAF Chief Inspector, in charge of the verification of Pakistani claims of enemy aircraft kills. Working closely with him was the then United States air attache/adviser to the PAF, USAF Brigadier General Charles ""Chuck"" Yeager (the first man to break the sound barrier). After retiring from the PAF, Air"
"Remy Van Lierde Colonel Remy Van Lierde (14 August 1915 – 8 June 1990) was a Belgian pilot and fighter ace who served during World War II in the Belgian and British Air Forces, shooting down six enemy aircraft and 44 V-1 flying bombs, and achieving the RAF rank of Squadron Leader. Van Lierde was made Deputy Chief of Staff to the Ministre of Defense in 1954. In 1958 he became one of the first Belgians to break the sound barrier while test flying a Hawker Hunter at Dunsfold Aerodrome in England. He returned to the Belgian Air Force after"
"the defibrillator in 1947. 1947 Supersonic aircraft In aerodynamics, the sound barrier usually refers to the point at which an aircraft moves from transonic to supersonic speed. On October 14, 1947, just under a month after the United States Air Force had been created as a separate service, tests culminated in the first manned supersonic flight where the sound barrier was broken, piloted by Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1. 1947 Acrylic paint Acrylic paint is fast-drying paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. The first acrylic paint was invented by Leonard Bocour and Sam"
"Chuck Yeager Charles Elwood Yeager (; born , 1923) is a former United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight. Yeager's career began in World War II as a private in the United States Army Air Forces. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of flight officer (the World War II USAAF equivalent to warrant officer) and became a P-51 fighter pilot. After the"
"pension fund. In August 2008, the California Court of Appeal ruled for Yeager, finding that his daughter Susan had breached her duty as trustee. Yeager and Victoria reside in Penn Valley, California, the location of the General Chuck Yeager Foundation, which supports programs that ""teach the ideals by which General Yeager has lived."" Chuck Yeager Charles Elwood Yeager (; born , 1923) is a former United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight. Yeager's career began in World War"
"program was taken over by the United States Air Force after Goodlin demanded $150,000 and additionally demanded hazard pay for every minute spent over 0.85 Mach. The Bell program was also needlessly conservative, increasing speed by only 0.02 Mach per flight. Subsequently, the sound barrier was broken by Captain Chuck Yeager in 1947. Goodlin later denied ever making the demand for extra pay. Goodlin stated that he had made a deal with Bob Stanley of Bell to make the first supersonic flight before turning the plane over to the United States Air Force, but they wanted a man in uniform"
"China Airlines 747 may have broken the sound barrier in an unplanned descent from 41,000 ft (12,500 m) to 9,500 ft (2,900 m) after an in-flight upset on 19 February 1985. It also reached over 5g. On January 12, 1948, a Northrop unmanned rocket sled became the first land vehicle to break the sound barrier. At a military test facility at Muroc Air Force Base (now Edwards AFB), California, it reached a peak speed of 1,019 mph (1,640 km/h) before jumping the rails. On October 15, 1997, in a vehicle designed and built by a team led by Richard Noble,"
"get them to operational speeds. It is possible that this produced supersonic performance as high as Mach 2, but this was not due solely to the engine itself. In contrast, the German V-2 ballistic missile routinely broke the sound barrier in flight, for the first time on 3 October 1942. By September 1944, V-2s routinely achieved Mach 4 (1,200 m/s, or 3044 mph) during terminal descent. In 1942, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Aviation began a top-secret project with Miles Aircraft to develop the world's first aircraft capable of breaking the sound barrier. The project resulted in the development of"
"Chalmers Goodlin Chalmers Hubert Goodlin (January 2, 1923 – October 20, 2005) was the second test pilot of the Bell X-1 supersonic rocket plane, and the first to operate the craft in powered flight (the others having been glide tests). He was the pilot of the project's second plane, and nearly broke the sound barrier. Goodlin was born on January 2, 1923, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He began learning to fly at the age of 15, and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 on his eighteenth birthday, inspired by the tremendous air battles over the English Channel in early"